Lady Devil - Chapter 59

#59

Griselda’s fingers convulsed and twisted inward. No matter how tightly she clutched the baby clothes to her chest, the dying child could hardly cry.

…Sometimes.

Anger is a foolish thing. Like flames trapped in a narrow tube forcing their head through the weakest air hole, anger easily targets the most vulnerable. Even though the hole cannot open the tube. Without the slightest guilt or doubt.

No, perhaps it was only natural that a soft face could not even think of breaking a knife. For Griselda, severely misdirected killing intent felt like the natural order.

She slowly backed away. Quietly, she placed Sieglinde’s son in the bathtub and washed him with water. Carefully shining a candle, she thoroughly cleaned the muddy nostrils, ear canals, and even inside the eyelids. After wrapping the now cleaner child in fine cloth, she laid him in the cradle. The two firstborns lying with their heads together did not cry, and until then the princess showed no signs of waking.

She picked up the princess’s son. She left the birthing room with muffled footsteps. She brought the child in her arms to the empty room that was once her husband’s bedroom. She then went to find the priest.

“The young lord’s condition does not look good….”

She hurriedly returned to the birthing room, accompanied by the pale-faced priest. The priest carefully examined the remaining child in the cradle, but did not notice at all that it was different from before.

She knew he wouldn’t.

Griselda, who had been standing by the cradle with an icy expression, headed back to her husband’s bedroom. The princess did not open her eyes, and Griselda’s feet were not heavy. Now, the princess’s child would be lying on the bed her husband used. Her shadow flickering in the torchlight was like a giant beast.

She kept going down. Neither too fast nor too slow. Silently, as if sinking her whole body into an endless quicksand.

She walked down of her own accord.

It was a dark night with black rain falling steadily outside the window.

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